Archive | Blog

Typically when we want to monetize a blog we simply add some advertising to it, correct? Maybe some adwords, or perhaps banner ads that lead to sales pages that lead to (hopefully) bucketfuls of commissions.

But as you may have discovered, the problem with advertising products this way is that prospects land on the sales page cold. They don’t know any more than what was written in that tiny banner ad, and so they aren’t even close to being warmed up enough to read or watch a sales pitch.

To improve your conversion rate for products sold from your blog, you can always create a page before the sales page. That is, your banner takes them to another page on your blog that introduces them to the product and its many benefits prior to sending them to the sales page. And while there are some “experts” who will tell you that any added step in the sales process is a no-no, the fact is this will usually (if not always) improve your sales by at least a small margin, if not more.

One step better is to forgo the banner ad and instead write a blog post about the product. Your readers are already reading your blog, and the beauty of talking about a product within a blog post is the same as referring to a product in a news story – it slides in under the prospect’s sales radar.

You can bring up a problem you’ve been having that is likely something you have in common with your readers, and then you let them know you’ve found the solution. Don’t make it read like a sales pitch – simply share the best benefits of this product and then offer the link if they want to know more or perhaps enjoy the benefits for themselves.

This can definitely bring in the sales, but there is a drawback: Your sales will increase for a day or two or possibly longer, but as your blog post drops down on your blog, the sales will taper off. And while you will continue to enjoy a sale here or there as new readers find your old post, it’s not a terrific long term strategy for making ongoing sales.

However, if the product you are promoting is your own product AND it’s a GOOD product, there is a solution that frankly kicks cyber-butt and converts like a banshee, and it’s this: Add the Facebook commenting system to your page.

This allows your product users to make comments about your product that show up on your blog. Once you’ve added Facebook commenting, email your existing customers and ask them to stop by your page and leave a testimonial.

Result? As you accumulate testimonials your prospects see this genuine social proof that your offer does what it says, causing them to get excited about your product before they even know what it is. This can mean a HUGE boost in sales for you – and not just now but well into the future as well.

And the allows you to display these comments in multiple places for maximum impact. Having the ability to display genuine feedback from your customers is perhaps the most powerful tool you can have in enticing, exciting and converting prospects into buyers.

Also, did you notice how I smoothly recommended and referred you to the Facebook commenting system in this article? Pretty cool, right?! 😉 That’s the same strategy you can use in your blog posts to recommend other products and services you recommend (and are affiliated with) in some of your future blog posts. In this way, your recommendations will be taken more seriously, and your sales will grow more consistently. Now if only I could get Facebook to pay me for my sincere recommendation.

When your tweets get retweeted, a whole new group of followers is exposed to your tweet, and thereby you. The more your tweets are retweeted, the greater number of followers who will get to see them. Why is this important? Because the added exposure can mean you get new followers as well as more clicks to your website.

So are there any tricks to getting retweeted? Absolutely, and I’ve picked out some of the best…

1. Write good stuff. Seriously – write tweets that people enjoy, that are interesting or useful or entertaining or helpful. Recall the kinds of things you’ve retweeted – you don’t forward boring stuff, you retweet only the best tweets, and that’s what your followers do as well.

2. Anything about Twitter is retweetable. Think about it – what is the ONE thing every single person on Twitter has in common? Twitter! So when you find an article with Twitter tips, or the latest editorial rant on why Twitter is bad, or great, or the marketing bonanza of all time – go ahead and tweet about it.

3. Breaking news – whether it’s a tornado moving through your backyard or the latest development in your niche – tweet about breaking news as soon as you hear about it.

4. Tweet “How-to’s.” People love tweets that begin with, “How to…” regardless of whether it’s how to make sauerkraut chocolate cake, get more done in less time or hot wire a car. Another phrase that also gets retweeted a lot is “The art of…”

5. Use links in your tweets. Providing a link adds credibility and gives your followers a place to go for more information. Always add a link if it’s pertinent.

6. Tweet about the weird, strange and bizarre. Glow in the dark goldfish and naked graffiti artists will get retweeted non-stop for DAYS, so go ahead and tweet about the weird stuff, because you are NOT the only person who loves being surprised and shocked.

7. Which brings us to the last one – be surprising, be different, be FUN. More than almost anything else, people love to be entertained – so go ahead and get a little crazy, let the kid in you shine through, and transmit that innate sense of pleasure in living life to your followers.

Bottom line: The more you get retweeted, the better. And what’s the number one trick to getting retweeted? Believe it or not, it’s simply ASKING your followers to retweet you.

Twitter polls are an excellent way to ask for help, get feedback from your followers and further develop your online relationships, and business prospects.

And they’re super easy to run, as well. Here’s how:

Announce that you’ll be taking a poll or asking a series of poll questions.

Use a descriptive #hashtag after each of your poll questions to thread them together.

Ask questions that are relevant to your tweeting history. For example, if your Twitter profile is all about online marketing, then stick to that rather than asking what they think of politics or global climate change.

Make it fun. Polls don’t always need to be serious. For example, if your niche is marketing, you might ask how they would market square chicken eggs or what is the worst example of marketing they’ve witnessed in the past week.

Thank your participants, ask for clarification if necessary, and let them know what you’ll be doing with their feedback (Creating a new product? Changing your marketing strategy? Writing a new blog post?, etc.)

If you’re writing a blog post based on the results you receive, consider thanking the participants by name in your post. If there are too many to thank, at least create a Twitter list just for this particular poll and then link to the poll from your blog post.

If you’re finding it difficult to interact with your fellow Twitterites, you’ll definitely want to use a few polls to get things jump started. I’ve seen a poll on whether or not people prefer creamy to chunky peanut butter generate huge interest in just minutes. It’s all about engaging people and valuing their opinion – even on something as silly as smooth or lumpy.

Have fun with it, and go out there and learn some more about your Twitter followers! You may just uncover a hidden need that you can develop a product around, or way to improve your growing online business.